Novozymes to participate in Copenhagen carbon-capture project

Global biotech company Novozymes is to take part in a project to establish a carbon capture facility at the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Amager Bakke plant, which is part of the municipally-owned Amager Resource Center (ARC), has become something of a local landmark in the Danish capital, not least because of the ski slope integrated onto the plant's rooftop.

Novozymes' biosolutions for enzymatic carbon capture are to be tested as part of ARC’s official application to the European Union’s Innovation Fund to build a carbon capture facility at Amager Bakke.

The captured CO2 will either be utilised or stored, with a start to operations scheduled for 2025.

Read more: Construction begins on 4,000t carbon capture project in Iceland

“We are seeking to demonstrate the feasibility of enzymatic carbon capture technology. This aligns well with Novozymes’ commitments to innovation and climate action. In 2020, Novozymes enabled savings of 49 million tonnes of CO2 in global transport, and we hope that carbon capture technology can significantly accelerate the path to achieving global climate goals, together with our customers and partners,” said Amy Byrick, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Transformation at Novozymes.

Currently, the majority of solutions for carbon capture are amine-based systems, which require significant amounts of chemicals to be effective or are high-temperature carbonate processes.

The difference between Novozymes' technology and conventional carbon capture systems is that the enzymatic solution uses non-toxic and non-corrosive solvents at a lower stripping temperature. This lower temperature enables the use of low value heat and use of hot water instead of hot steam, which saves energy costs.

Read more: Is carbon capture essential for sustainable aviation?

As there is no toxic waste generated with the enzyme process, there are no extra costs for wastewater treatment – the wastewater from the process can go directly to ordinary municipal wastewater treatment.

The EU is aiming to cut GHG emissions by 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. This will not be possible without large-scale deployment of carbon capture and the ARC project is an important stepping stone on the way.

“Developing enzyme-accelerated alternatives to traditional methods of carbon capture will help to build knowledge and can potentially make the process more effective and sustainable, resulting in reduced cost for the green transformation,” says Jacob H. Simonsen, Chief Executive Officer at Amager Resource Center.

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